(Spirit Lake)– Any firm found responsible for a spill of a hazardous material in Dickinson county would be billed for clean-up costs under a proposed ordinance introduced at today’s (Tuesday’s) board of supervisors meeting.
Emergency Services Coordinator Mike Ehret tells KUOO news clean up of hazardous waste spills demand a lot of time and resources of first responders and others. He says this would help reimburse them.
Ehret says a change in state law has now made it possible for counties to charge responsible parties in order to recoup atleast some of the money incurred from cleaning up such incidents.
Ehret says the fees would be based on recommendations spelled out by the Iowa Fire Service.
The supervisors directed Ehret and Assistant County Attorney Lonnie Saunders to draw up a more formal ordinance for consideration.
Ehret says the recent crash of a semi tanker loaded with anhydrous ammonia into a ditch near a slough in Clay county re-emphasizes the need for such an ordinance. It took crews some 15 hours to clean up that site.
